TechTools™: More Information

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TechTools™ Addresses Key Issues in Education

Accountability

Teachers are held accountable for making sure that students learn both content skills and technology skills. TechTools™ provides the perfect integration of these two sets of skills. The projects are curriculum-based, and the "How-To" Cards give students step-by-step instructions for using software.

Problem-based Learning

Problem-based learning uses real-world situations to encourage students to combine content knowledge with critical thinking. In this environment, teachers provide resources and guidance, while students assume greater responsibility for their own learning. TechTools™ is ideal for this since each kit provides open-ended projects with many possibilities for design and development. The learning that takes place is active, integrated, cumulative, and connected--just what education is supposed to be.

Economical

Budget constraints are tighter than ever, but TechTools™ is designed to help educators make the most of the software the school already owns.

Components

Each TechTools™ Resource Kit consists of three parts:

Teacher's Resource Notebook
One Hundred "How-To" Cards
Multimedia CD

Teacher's Resource Notebook

Detailed lesson plans for 60 projects are accompanied by management tips, suggestions for using related Web sites, and guidelines for assessing students' work.

20 Beginner Projects
20 Intermediate Projects
20 Challenging Projects

One Hundred "How To" Cards

100 "How To" Cards have all the answers to your students' questions about your software. The full-color cards are designed with Windows® instructions on one side and Macintosh® on the other. Upgrades: As software is upgraded, you'll be able to upgrade your Resource Kit simply by purchasing a new set of "How To" Cards. Extra sets of "How To" Cards may be purchased for use at additional computer stations. to update an older version of a TechTools™ Resource Kit. Only the cards are version-specific. The lesson plans, projects, and multimedia CDs work with both the 97/98 and 2000/2001 versions of a Microsoft software program.

Multimedia CD

Project Templates
Photographs
Clip Art
Audio & Video clips

Two important components of this kit reside on the Win/Mac CD. Project templates make the "getting started" part of a project easy. Each of the notebook's 60 projects has a template that can be used "as is" or modified to meet specific needs.

Also on the CD are project-specific resources--lots of photographs and clip art as well as audio and video clips that are related to the notebook's projects. Importing these resources into documents or multimedia presentations is what makes the magic happen. They are the keys to creating the kind of exciting reports and presentations that capture people's attention. The CD contains over 200 importable resources.

Four copies of the CD are included in each TechTools™ Resource Kit.

Web Site Support

Project-specific live links are automatically updated. There's no need to type in lengthy URLs, so connections are easy, accurate, and safe.

TechTools™ Resource Kits are Award-Winning


TechTools™ has been awarded the 2002 Distinguished Achievement Award from The Association of Educational Publishers.	TechTools™ is the Winner of the 2002 Media and Methods' Awards Portfolio.	TechTools™ Resource Kit for Inspiration has been awarded the Learning Magazine 2003 Teachers' Choice ^SM Award.

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